One Billion #Rise4Justice and Demand End to Violence against Females Worldwide

In 2013 V-Day succeeded to bring women and men together from all walks of life in 207 countries and inspired them to rise up and speak out to “demand an end to violence against women and girls.” We covered the ONE BILLION RISING inaugural event last year which coincided with the 15th year anniversary of this worldwide movement. V-day has worked at the grassroots level to fight for and raise funds for this cause for years and the launch of this event was their effort to “take an uncharted and ambitious path to end the violence”. Their efforts paid off and fueled their drive for 2014.

Click image to go to website

This year they want the movement to reach new heights and are “calling on women and men everywhere to RISE, RELEASE, DANCE, and demand JUSTICE!” through ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE. What ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE asks is that “Women survivors of violence and those who love them will gather safely in places where they are entitled to justice – courthouses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, nuclear sites, mines, and public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not – and release their stories through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, sit ins, and testimonies.”

It is a staggering fact that one in three women in the world will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. This is an excellent way to shine the spotlight on this horrific statistic and tell the world that it is not ok – not here and not anywhere. Around the world V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE will be observed on February 14th 2014; however, they are asking Canadians to rise on March 8th, which is International Women’s Day. The reason is that “in Canada the Annual Women’s Memorial March for The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, which has been taking place for twenty two years, is held every February 14th to honor and grieve for the thousands of women who are still missing or who have been murdered.” Out of a deep respect for the Women’s Memorial Marches, the One Billion Rising Canada organizers and participants will not join in February 14th and will instead rise on March 8th, 2014.

 “The campaign is a recognition that we cannot end violence against women without looking at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy. Impunity lives at the heart of these interlocking forces. It is a call to bring on revolutionary justice.”

If you want to get involved you can donate direct or text BILLION to 50555 to give $10.00 to V-Day. You can also find the movement on Facebook and Twitter at Facebook.Com/Vday and @VDAY using the hashtags #rise4justice and #reasontorise so that you can easily share this information with your social networks. Go to the ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE website to sign up and learn more about the movement, download the toolkit, get information on ways you can rise and about events in your area.

One billion women will be raped or abused in our lifetime. On February 14th, 2014 (and March 8th, 2014 for Canadians) think globally but rise locally for justice and equality everywhere. We may have come a long way but we still have a long way to go.

 Please take a moment to watch One Billion Rising,

An inspiring documentary short by Eve Ensler and Tony Stroebel

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3WrT8HG4wY[/youtube]

For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Pinterest or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.